Windows Phone Thoughts: Summer With SCOTTEVEST: Reviewing Performance T-Shirt, Hidden Cargo Shorts, & TEC Hat!

Figure 4: The SCOTTeVEST TEC Hat, in all its different color glory.

So the cutting began, and I began to sweat as usual. The headphones (I normally use Bluetooth headphones, but since I was reviewing the shirt I figured I'd dig out stock headphones to see if they were annoying) stayed exactly where I put them, and aside from having to pull out a bit more slack from the short from time to time, were hardly noticeable. The fabric of the shirt had a rather interesting effect when it came to sweat. By trapping the sweat away from my body, the water cooled slightly and whenever a stiff breeze came by (a breeze of warm air, it was 85 degrees the day I cut) I got a cooling breeze inside the shirt. All I can figure was that the design had been done such that I wasn't getting a hot breeze on sweaty skin, but a breeze filtered through water hitting dry skin. I don't know if that's what scientifically happened, but I know the result: no sweat under the shirt! Aside from when I was standing in direct sunlight, I really felt no extreme heat, something that the sweat on my skin normally provides in a regular T-shirt.

While the shirt kept my cool, the hat really didn't provide as much relief as I had hoped. Even now as I sit writing this about an hour later, the shirt is bone dry but the hat still has sweat stains and the leather lining is soaked. The top of the hat, where the mesh material is, is dry and I was cool up there. Overall, the hat held up just as well as any other hat I use, but I would recommend not buying the hat for cooling power as much as buying it for (a) hidden pockets and, (b) the cool SCOTTeVEST logo. I did notice that the hat was much more comfortable than my stock college logo hat, which justifies the very small difference in price between the two hats. In a sense, the pockets are free if you've got an uncomfortable baseball cap and just want a comfort "upgrade"!

Concluding Lawn Wars today, I've decided that I plan on making sure that my performance T-shirt is ready for all additional grass cuttings in the future, just based on the fact that it aired me out a lot better than a regular T would. The hat was a bit underwhelming, as it saturated with sweat pretty quickly. Then again, using the hat under normal conditions would have garnered no complaints.

With the Hat and T-shirt out of the way, it's time for the Hidden Cargo Shorts!